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TRAVELLERS' CLUB. PAPER No. i. 

AMERICAN PIONEERING, 

AN ADDRESS 

BEFORE 

The Travellers' Club, 

BY 

eT E. DUNBAR, 



MDCCCLXIIl. 



.J3 






Davison & Ward, Printers, 

43 Montgomery Street, 

Jcrfev Citv. 



The following Addrefs was delivered at the 
requeft of gentlemen who propofe to eftablifh 
The Travellers' Club of the City of New York, 
and they have to thank Mr. Dunbar for the 
zeal and ability he has difplayed in behalt of 
the Club. They feel confident that in publifli- 
ing it as Paper No. i, of that Society's publica- 
tions, they will aid materially in promoting its 
intereft. They would alfo make their acknow- 
ledgments to Messrs. Davison & Ward, for the 
excellence of the typography, as already ihown 
in the proof flieets. 

Any communications on the fubje6l of The 
Travellers' Club, may be addrelfed to E. E. 
Dunbar, Efq., or to the underfigned. 

W. M. B. Hartley, 

Secretary, 

New York, Dec. i, 1863. Box 1323. 



AMERICAN PIONEERING 

AS 

ConneBed with the Progrefs and Dejliny of the 
United States. 

IT falls to the lot of comparatively few whofe 
ways are caft in the crowded haunts of men, to 
know practically how civilization begins. This 
invaluable knowledge is only obtained through 
great expofure, hardship and fuffering. In thefe 
days, thofe of us who leave friends and home in 
the older fettled country, to encounter adventure 
and tempt fortune in our wild frontier regions, 
commence the journey in the rapid and fmooth 
rolling fteam car ; the iron rail we leave for 
the wagon road ; the wagon road runs into the 
mule path ; the mule path finds the Indian trail, 
and when this is loft, we depend on the track of 
the wild beaft to guide us to the water courfes 
or pools. This point muft* be reached ere we 
can comprehend the beginning of civilization. 

No fubjed: of the fame importance has received 
{o little attention as that of American Pioneer- 
ing, or, in other words, the Commencement and 
Growth of Civilization in the United States. In 
a hiitorical point of view, and as connected with 
the rife and progrefs of the American nation, 
and the advancement of civilization on this con- 
tinent 



( ) 
tinent and its iflands, the subje6t has, in reality, 
received little or no attention. This is marvel- 
ous, when we reflect that juft in proportion as 
the pioneer fpirit is developed, civilization pro- 
grelTes. 

When, therefore, the great fubjed: of pioneer- 
ing, in its largeft fenfe, and in all its bearings, is 
difculfed with reference to the progrefs of our 
inftitutions, nationality and general interefts, it 
becomes a theme of paramount importance ; 
and when, in connection, we relate the adven- 
tures of the daring, intelled:ual and enterprifmg 
pioneer — he who, from a pure love of adven- 
ture and the progrefs of mankind, goes before 
to open the way — our fubjed: rifes to grandeur. 
It abounds in thrilling romance, noble fenti- 
ments and exalted views. 

The Bible tells us, that after God created the 
man and the woman, he blelfed them and faid : 
** Be fruitful and multiply andreple?iifi the earth and 
fiibdue it'' This is the great command, the 
impelling power impofed upon man by Nature, 
and fandihed by the Divine Idea. 

According to the. Bible, Adam and Eve were 
the firft pioneers; and lince God fent them forth 
to explore the garden of Eden, nearly the whole 
earth has been pioneered. To the man truly pro- 
grefTive, either in moral or material things, this 
entire Univerfe is an Eden. The garden of Eden 
is the field of knowledge, though its fruits, like 
rofes, are only gathered among thorns. But he 
whofe foul is fed by the pure and exalted infpi- 

rations 



( 7 ) 

rations of Nature, and who bellows thole inlpl- 
rations upon the world, though an inhabitant of 
earth, toihng perhaps in poverty or dileafe, already 
lives in Heaven. 

What common, unprogreffive mind can com- 
prehend the exalted inner life of a Chrift found- 
ing a new and higher order of religion; a Co- 
lumbus difcovering and prefenting a New World 
to the Old; a Milton or a Shakfpeare recording 
the fublime infpiration of his foul in books ; a 
Fulton applying the power of fteam to naviga- 
tion ; a Franklin drawing the lightning from the 
clouds; a Humboldt communing with Nature 
and opening her great and wonderful book for 
the benefit of his fellow men ? 

The truly progreffive man, the pioneer, in obey- 
ing the great command to fubdue the earth, is the 
immediate fervant of God. He is a rare man 
among his fellow men, one above the common 
herd. His power to lead, and his right to com- 
mand, mull be bafed on thofe natural gifts, both 
mental and phylical, from which comes natural 
royalty. I fpeak now of thofe men who, de- 
riving their impulfes from the God of Nature, 
difcover new countries, explore unknown regions 
and give them over to a higher order of civiliza- 
tion. Such to this continent were Columbus, 
Cortez, Las Cafas, Cabot ; Magellan, Drake, 
Cook, John S^iith, William Penn ; the Hugue- 
nots of Carolina, the Pilgrims of Malfachufetts, 
Roger Williams, and many others known to 
fame in early days. 

Later, 



( « ) 

Later, from the old Colonial times to the pre- 
fent, our country has had, and ftill has, its peculiar 
claiTes of pioneers. Washington was a pioneer 
by nature, education and practice. Then there 
were Daniel Boone and his kind — fuch as Cooper 
loved to portray in La hongue Carabine and 
Leather Stocking. Captain Zebulon M. Pike, 
from whom Pike's Peak takes its name, was a 
diftinguifhed pioneer and explorer. Who that 
has read the narrative of Lewis and Clarke 
can ever forget it? That ftory of explora- 
tions in our weftern wilds appeared over forty 
years ago, and for twenty years it maintained its 
hold on the public mind. It was found in the 
log cabin of the -remoteft fettler in the Weft, as 
well as among the gilded volumes of the rich 
in our fea-board cities. The influence, that lingle 
book had in creating a fpirit of adventurous pio- 
neering in the United States, was incalculable. I 
never Ihall forget the intenfe interefl: with which 
I perufed its pages in the days of my boyhood. 
In dreamy reverie, day and night, my youthful 
imagination conjured up the wild adventurous 
fcenes of frontier life ; and when, in after years, I 
practically experienced that lite, it feemed but 
the realization of the dreams of other days. 

Then came John C. Fremont, the account 
of whofe wonderful explorations acrofs the con- 
tinent, ftimulated anew the pioneer fpirit among 
his own countrymen, and gave him a world- 
wide celebrity. 

Then there was that child of romance and 

adventure 



( 9 ) 

adventure, Sutter, who located far up the Sacra- 
mento in Cahtornia, long before the gold was 
difcovered. And the humbler pioneer, James 
W. Marlhall, a mill-wright, and the ad:ual dif- 
coverer of the gold, ought to be mentioned in 
conned:ion with Sutter. Among other weftern 
pioneers, there were fuch as Capt. Bonneville, 
Kit Carfon, Felix Aubrey, Lieut. Ives, Charles 
D. Pofton, Herman Ehrenbergh, A. B. Grey, 
and the lamented Generals Lander and Stevens. 
Nicholas Longworth pioneered the way to Cin- 
cinnati, Lewis Cafs to Michigan, and Stephen 
AufHn to Texas. 

And we have a clafs of pioneers whofe way is 
over the ocean — commercial pioneers. Quite 
as much intereft and importance are attached to 
the ocean as to the land pioneer. We have our 
commercial pioneers to all the diftant parts of 
the earth — China, Japan, the illands of the Pa- 
cific, the North Weft Coaft and South America. 

It is only fifteen years ago that Henry Wol- 
cott, originally from Connecticut, eftablilhed the 
firfi: commercial house in Shanghai, China. Col- 
lins is now opening to our trade the Amoor river 
country. William Whitewright, a Mafilichufetts 
man, eftablilhed Iteam navigation on the Weft- 
ern Coall of South America, John L. Stephens 
and E. G. Squier have explored and made known 
to us the riches and the wonders of Central 
America. 

We have among us, at the prefent time, the 
Hon. Townfend Harris, who as Commifiioner 

and 



( '0 ) 

and lirft refident Minifter in Japan, negotiated 
with fo much tad: and intelHgence our commer- 
cial treaty with that country. We have alfo the 
Rev. J. C. Fletcher, one of the moll: progreffive 
men of the age, and whofe held of pioneering 
lies in the magnificent empire of Brazil, refpedt- 
ing which he dilleminates fo much valuable in- 
formation. 

There was Kane, and now we have the cour- 
ageous and indomitable Capt. C. F. Hall,, who 
afpires to emulate the great Ardic explorer. 

The favor with which the public receives the 
ufeful and interefting narratives of our ocean and 
land pioneers, proves that pioneer enterprife, from 
which comes the irreprellible fpirit ot expan- 
lion, is an inherent charaderilHc of the Ameri- 
can people. 

It will be remembered with what avidity the 
public feized upon Dana's Two Tears Before the 
Maji^ which gave an account of the trading voy- 
age of a Bofton Hide Drogher on the coaft of 
California twenty years ago. It was the liniple 
ilory ot a trading venture to an unknown coun- 
try, toward which the eye of the world was 
beginning to turn, written by a participant in the 
enterprife, a failor of intelledf and culture. The 
charm of the narrative was in its fimplicity, and 
its adaptation to commercial pioneering and ex- 
tenfion. Mr. Dana may write a hundred books 
on ordinary topics, but not one of them will 
have the fuccefs of his Two Tears Before the 
MajL 

It 



( >■ ) 

It is much to be regretted that we have fo little 
<L)n record worth mentioning, relative to the hif- 
tory of American commercial pioneering — the 
opening of commerce, and trade, at new and 
dillant points, by individuals or companies. No- 
thing could be more interefting and inftrudiive 
than the hilfory of the commencement and 
growth of civilization, commerce and trade in 
this great country, llich as our ocean and land 
pioneers, and they alone, can give. 

Not many years hence the American pio- 
neer, as we now fee and underftand him, will 
be a charad:er of the paft ; and nothing in hif- 
tory or romance will be preferved and read in 
the future with more care and intereft than that 
which exifts of the pioneer hiftory and romance 
of the American Nation. 

The enterpriling pioneer fpirit of the Ameri- 
can people, and the confequent extenfion of ter- 
ritory, increafe of wealth and augmentation of 
power, have received little or no attention among 
ourfelves as influencing our progrefs and deftiny. 
This point has been more carefully ftudied by 
our enemies in Europe. 

It would appear that from the very com- 
mencement, our rulers, in common with the 
malfes, never have had a wife appreciation of the 
progrefs and deftiny of this nation. I believe 
there has been no ftatefmanlike comprehenfion 
of the rapidity with which events were pro- 
greffing in our own country and on this conti- 
nent. We boaft enough of progrefs all the 

world 



( 12 ) 

world knows ; but while boafting, we utterly 
fail to comprehend the logic of thofe events 
upon which that progrefs is bafed. 

There is abundant evidence to fuftain my 
alfertion. The older dill:rid:s of New York are 
built on cow paths, and to this day we thread 
our way through the lower part of the city 
along the trails of our ancestors' cattle, joftling 
each other off the trottoirs, which, in fome 
localities, can no more than accommodate the 
huckfters' ftands by which they are occupied. 

The north lide of our City Hall was origi- 
nally finiflied very roughly, becaufe the citizens 
faid the town never would extend above it ; and 
at a recent date only was the unfightly wall 
replaced by the one we now fee. 

The fathers who feled:ed the iite of Wafliing- 
ton as the Federal Capital, fnicerely believed it 
would be the geographical and commercial, as 
well as the political, centre of the country. 

During the latter ten years of the lall: cen- 
tury, we were humbly negotiating for the navi- 
gation of the Milliffippi ; and Congrefs inftrud:- 
ed Mr. Carmichael, our Minifter to Spain in 
1790, to urge the Spanifh Government, as in- 
ducements to concede this, the confiderations, 
that the United States would be a lafer neighbor 
than Britain ; that conqueft was repugnant to 
the genius of our Government; that it was ^^7iGt 
our intercji^' I quote the very words of Con- 
grefs, '' to crofs the MiJJil/ippi for ages, '' that "/> 
never will he our inter eji to remain conneBed with 
thofe who doT 

In 



( '3 ) 

In tKe beginning of the prefent century, the 
Loiiifiana territory had been ceded by Spain to 
France, and all that Prelident JefFerlbn, in the 
firft inftance, afked of Napoleon was, the ceffion 
of New Orleans, with the Miffiffippi as the final 
boundary of our polfeffions. But at lail: he was 
forced to purchafe the whole of the Louifiana 
territory. This purchafe was confummated dur- 
ing the adminiftration of JefFerfon, in 1803. 
It was the firil extenfion of the original United 
States territory; and there was a general difpofi- 
tion to allow the tranfa6tion to be regarded as 
conftitutional ; but JefFerfon decidedly oppofed 
this, and nobly declared that it would be better 
to honeftly acknowledge the abfolute fad:, that 
in this purchafe of territory, expediency had 
overridden the conftitution, rather than dif- 
honeftly give that inftrument an unlimited fcope 
not to be found in letter or fpirit. 

Thus we fee that fixteen years after the adop- 
tion of the Conftitution, the very men who 
framed it, and who were yet on the ftage of 
action, were forced to violate their own funda- 
mental written law, by the purchafe of a bound- 
lefs and unknown territory, only a fmall diftrid: 
of which it was thought would ever be available 
to the United States. The old patriots did this 
we all know, forely againft tlteir will — doubting, 
fearing and trembling. This is the firft inftance 
in which the Government of the United States 
and deftiny came in contad:. The Government 
wifely yielded to deftiny. 

B In 



( H ) 

In 1 8 1 1 the State of Loulfiana, formed out of 
the recently purchafed territory, was admitted 
into the Union ; and in 1 8 1 9, only fixteen years 
after the purchafe, it was found that the Ameri- 
can people had crolTed the Miffiffippi a thoufand 
miles above its mouth, and fettled a large diftri6t 
of the newly acquired territory, which, only thirty 
years before, the United States Congrefs declared 
would not be available to the country " for 
ages," or our interest to hold even, on any terms. 

The queftion of excluding involuntary fervi- 
tude from this portion of the Louiliana purchafe 
was raifed by the demand of Milfouri to be 
admitted into the Union, in 18 19. The dif- 
cuffion of this queftion convulfed the whole 
country, whofe rulers and deftiny had again 
come in contad:. A fort of temporary com- 
promife was made with fate, by which involun- 
tary fervitude was excluded from all the territory 
north and weft of Miftburi, and, of courfe, per- 
mitting involuntary fervitude in the territory 
fouth of that line. This territory, north and 
weft of Milfouri, over which there had been 
fuch a conteft, both parties believed, as the 
American Congrefs believed in 1790 — ftrange as 
it may appear — would not be available to the 
United States for ages. 

In this ftrugglef)ver Milfouri and the adjoin- 
ing territory, we have evidence of the fame 
unfortunate want of pioneer, frontier knowledge, 
the fame lamentable lack of appreciation of the 
logic of events, and of our deftined progrefs, 

that 



( -5 ) 

that charadterized the earHer days of the Re- 
public. 

But the development of a great idea, the 
folution of a tremendous problem, or, in other 
words, the courfe of the Democratic American 
Nation was in progrefs. It overleaped all bar- 
riers, whether fet up by nature or impofed by 
Government. In 1836, we find the great wave 
of American emigration had run along the 
Mexican Gulf coaft and reached the Rio Grande. 
A branch of the American family had followed 
the lead of Stephen Auftin, originally from 
Connecticut, and fettled in Texas, a province of 
Mexico ; and even then were waging a war of 
independence. Ten years after, Texas, an inde- 
pendent empire in extent and refources, was 
admitted into the Union. But this was not 
accompliflied without a bitter political conteft 
in the United States — one that fliook the Union 
to its centre. Here again the government of 
the United States and deftiny came in contad:. 
The government yielded to fate ; but this yield- 
ing caufed dire forebodings among fome of the 
moft honeft and patriotic — it cannot be faid — 
greateft ftatefmen of the day. They, with thofe 
who had gone before, failed to comprehend the 
fignificance of thofe great events that were bear- 
ing the country upward and onward with a 
dired:nefs and certainty that fhould have given 
confidence and ftrength, rather than diflrufl and 
weaknefs. 

The war with Mexico was the fequence of 

the 



( -6 ) 

the annexation of Texas. The acqulfition of 
thofe vafl regions within the hmits of New 
Mexico and CaUfornia fealed a peace with 
Mexico in 1848. We will not ftop to difcufs 
whether this was a juft war or not. At the pre- 
fent time, I will confider it as a link in that 
fatal chain which was drawing my country on- 
ward to glory and power. 

I will now recapitulate fome of thofe great 
events, and refer to the mighty interefts already 
developed, which ought to have enlightened the 
nation as to the grandeur of that deftiny Omni- 
potence was clearly pointing out to the great 
American Republic. 

But little more than fifty years had elapfed 
fince Congrefs declared that it would not be the 
intereft of the American people to crofs the Mif- 
liffippi for ages; and, furthermore, that it w^ould 
never be our intereft to unite with thofe who 
ihould advance and occupy that region, when 
we find five large ftates, and five large territories, 
already formed out of thofe regions weft of the 
Miffifiippi, and comprehended within the Fede- 
ral compad:. 

Still the pioneer fpirit winged its way weft- 
ward, overleaped the Rocky Mountains, de- 
fcended their weftern Hopes, and reached the 
Pacific. Pioneers fingly, in fmall companies, 
and in caravans of immenfe proportions, crofted 
the continent, while ftiip loads circumnavigated 
it, and went up the great Pacific waters, caufing 
the American fiag to wave over a new born civil- 
ization 



( '7 ) 

izatlon on more than a thoufand miles of the 
Pacific fliores. Then came that great poHtical 
event, the mofl wonderful of all — the golden 
State of California leaped fim grown and armed, 
like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, into 
life, and entered the Union. 

A little later and another Weftern ftar, Ore- 
gon, was added to our galaxy of ftates ; while, 
farther to the north, ftill another, Wafliington 
territory is rifing. And yet there are others 
whofe orbits are already marked out. The ter- 
ritories of Dakotah, Nebrafka, Colorado, Idaho, 
Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, may 
foon be ilars in our brilliant political conftella- 
tion. 

Thus we have the grand faft before us, that 
within the prefent century the whole of that 
vaft region now contained within the United 
States boundaries, extending from the frigid 
north to the tropical fouth, and from the Mif- 
fiffippi to the Pacific, has been brought within 
the fcope of our intelligence, civilization and 
political fyftem. 

There never was fo large a trad: of the earth's 
furface fubjugated to fuch a degree in any thing 
like this brief period fince the annals of time 
commenced. 

But this is not the end. The American pio- 
neer is trailing his way to the fouth. On the 
Pacific fide, the American emigration has al- 
ready commenced its refistlefs flow into the 
Mexican States of Sonora, Sinaloa and Chihua- 
hua. 



( '8 ) 

hua. They go by fea and by land. The 
fteamers that ply between San Francifco, Guay- 
mas and Mazatlan, are crowded with paiTengers 
and freight. Four^large hotels have been re- 
cently opened in the city of Mazatlan, and they 
are crowded with Americans. Should the pro- 
pofed Mexican Emperor, Maximilian, ever reach 
that part of his propofed domains, he will find a 
throng of fubjed:s of difagreeably democratic 
proclivities. 

Within the laft eighteen months, one hundred 
and thirty American Mining Companies have 
been regiftered according to Mexican law in 
the State of Sonora alone. Seventy companies 
have alfo been regiftered in the State of Sinaloa. 
I have seen a lift^of thefe companies, and their 
aggregate capital cannot be lefs than $20,000,000. 
Already $4,000,000 of this capital has been fent 
forward, and many of the companies are now 
working the mines. The laft fteamer from San 
Francifco took down a large quantity of machin- 
ery, and half a million in gold and exchange for 
various companies. 

But this is not the end. The fpirit of Ame- 
rican commercial pioneering looks weftward 
ftill. Already it has croffed the Pacific and pene- 
trated fome of the empires of half-civilized 
Afia. Our merchantmen from California are 
found in the ports of Japan, China, Siam, Hin- 
doftan and the larger ifiands of the China Sea 
and Indian Ocean. Ere long, our mail fteamers 
will ply back and forth over the great Pacific, 
and Ikirt along the Afiatic iliores. 

What 



( 19 ) 

What a lefTon all this affords the ftatefman \ 
Have we ftatefmen who profit by it ? And it is 
a leffon the humbleft voter in the land ihould 
ftudy moft attentively in all its parts, that he 
may exercife his franchife intelligently and with 
fafety to the Republic. 

Now let us take a patriotic, whole-fouled view 
of our great country and its mighty interefts. 
Do not let it be a mean, partizan, one-idea fquint 
at any particular intereft or locality. Go with 
me to New England and hear the hum of induf- 
try in her thoufands of bufy manufacturing hives, 
and fee the commerce that lines her ihores. We 
vifit the cofmopolitan city of New York, the 
great commercial and financial emporium of the 
country ; and here in the concentration of mighty 
interefts we have overwhelming evidence of 
wealth and power. 

We afcend the Alleghanies and furvey the fur- 
rounding regions of iron and coal. Where the 
greateft depolits of iron and coal lie contiguous, 
there the feat of empire will be. We have them 
in New York, New Jerfey, Pennfylvania, Mary- 
land and Virginia; and to thefe mineral regions, 
not only this continent, but the whole world, 
muft eventually be tributary. 

Leave the Alleghanies, pafs on to the Weft and 
glance over that immenfe ftretch of country 
which, with its prairies, hills and valleys, extends 
from the great lakes on the North to the Rio 
Grande on the South. Here we have the longefi:, 
broadeft and moft valuable agricultural diftrid: 
on the face of the earth. 

Afcend 



( 2° ) 

Afcend the Rocky Mountains, look down 
their eaftern flopes, and weft to the Pacific. We 
fee vaft mineral fields, greater in extent, and 
yielding more abundantly of the precious metals 
than any other part of the globe. And yet we 
do not begin to comprehend the extent and 
value of thofe mineral fields, though they are 
now yielding $100,000,000 per annum. I be- 
lieve fome, who now hear me, will live to fee our 
yield of precious metals $1,000,000,000 per 
annum ! Fifteen years ago all that region was a 
dreary wafte, not yielding one cent ! And then 
we have increafing, commercial and agricultural 
interefts on the Pacific, which, in a few years, 
will exceed the calculations of the moft fanguine. 

Thefe are fublime contemplations. I wifli 
they could have their juft meafure of apprecia- 
tion in the arena of American politics. 

We have now the grand fa6t before us, that 
vaft regions have been peopled, and immenfe 
interefts opened to our enterprife. Let us accord 
to the pioneer his proper meed of acknowledg- 
ment. There has been a pioneer to each par- 
ticular diftrid: of country, and every intereft — 
one whom the malTes have followed. 



*' 'Tls in the advance of individual minds 
That the flow crowd fliould ground their expcftation 
Eventually to follow — as the fea 
Waits ages in its bed, 'till fome one wave 
Out of the multitude afpires, extends 
The empire of the whole, fome feet perhaps. 
Over the ilrip of fand which could confine 
Its fellows fo long time; thenceforth the rcll. 
Even to the mcanell, hurry in at once. 
And fo much is clear gained." 

All 



f 21 ) 

All this vail moral and material development 
has been accompliihed by a people who, though 
compofed in fome degree of different nationali- 
ties, mufl: be coniidered as one race. The peo- 
ple of the United States have made all their pro- 
grefs under one ConiHtution, one Flag ; and 
they have been actuated, impelled by one all- 
pervading, all-powerful idea, to wit, " that on 
the bails of equality, they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that 
among thei'c are life, liberty and the puriliit of 
happineis." 

It is not for me to dii'cui's the point whether 
the government of the United States has been 
and is adminiilered entirely in conformity with 
this iimple, though great and glorious idea. It 
is fuihcient for my purpofe to advert to the fad: 
that this idea of equality in the poifeihon of 
certain inalienable rights is ilippol'ed to underlie 
our government, our inftitutions and our ibciety; 
and to ftate that the effed: of this idea in advanc- 
ing the country has far exceeded the wildeft 
dreams of thole who adopted it as their political 
platform, when they launched the ihip of ifate 
in times that tried men's fouls. And now after 
fo much has been accompliihed on this idea, at 
this, the grandeft period of our exiifence, and 
while the world was beginning to look upon the 
Coloifal Republic with awe and wonder, we 
have again come in contad with our great and 
good deftiny. This time the ihock is terrible. 
It ihakes the whole earth. Who can tell whether 
c our 



( " ) 

our good or evil genius will prevail ! I may not 
be able to fay how our nationality is to be pre- 
ferved inta^l, but I ftill have faith that our coun- 
try will finally bow to the glorious defiiiny which 
Omnipotence has made manifeft. 

Before our troubles are over, we fliall proba- 
bly difcover that we are not fpiritually and intel- 
lediually up to the mark — that the moral devel- 
opment of the nation does not keep pace with 
its material development. We may find that 
our religion and politics are bafed too much on 
purely felfifli infi:ind:s that attach to mere local 
and perfonal interefts, fo completely abforbing as 
to ferioully impair the quality of our patriot- 
ifm. 

We will alfo learn that in no fection of the 
country lies the intereft that outweighs the value 
of Union, the neceffity of an undivided nation- 
ality ; fee how fupremely blefi'ed we are in the 
order by which nature has arranged bur magnifi- 
cent interefts. How compad: ! All on a grand 
fcale and in one great territory, each blending 
with the other in fuch beautiful and perfed: har- 
mony as to caufe each to depend on the other 
for development. With us there can be no fuch 
thing as the enjoyment of thofe inalienable rights, 
life, liberty and the purfuit of happinefs, unlefs 
our nationality follows our material interefts. 
We muft live a homogeneous nation and in one 
political Union. The fanatical, recklefs, un- 
thinking mob of which fo large a part of the 
prefent generation is compofed, may pafs away 

before 



( 23 ; 

before order is thoroughly reftored; but the 
imperative neceffity of harmonizing the great 
material interefts of the country will, I believe, 
eventually bring it back to its original deftiny. 
We have tafted of progrefs bafed on a higher 
order of materialifm, fo to fpeak, than that of 
the ancients, and found it good. If in our folly 
we come to a Hand or retrogrefs, the next gene- 
ration will take up the tradition of the paft and 
a(5t upon it. 

So far as our country is concerned, all the in- 
telligence of the age tends to unity. The influ- 
ence of induftry, commerce and Icience impofes 
unity. The Atlantic fpeaks to the Pacific through 
the lightning's flalh, and the refponfe comes back 
ahead of time. With pen of wire and ink of 
fire we converfe with the moft diftant parts of 
our broad domain. Time and fpace are annihi- 
lated. It is poffible that in our day the fteam 
car will carry us from New York to San Fran- 
cifco in fix days. It is poffible that in our day 
the traveler in New York wifhing to vifit Hin- 
doftan, or perhaps Palelfine, and having reference 
to fpeed and comfort, will take his courfe weft 
acrofs this continent and the Pacific, inftead of 
the old route eaft acrofs the Atlantic. 

Now all this is marvelous, yet every thing can 
be readily accounted for in the regular order of 
nature. No miracles have been performed. It 
requires no very ingenious argument to make it 
appear that our progrefs is due, in fome degree to 
accident, a feries of blundering fucceffes, fo to 

fpeak. 



( 24 ) 

fpeak. While this argument cannot be conceded 
in a o-eneral fenie, its truth mull: be acknow- 
ledi^ed fo far as our government per Je is con- 
cerned. The federal compadt never contem- 
plated the expanfion that has aftually taken place 
under it or outiide of it. The framers of that 
compadt held that the acquilition of territory by 
conquelf was repugnant to the genius of our 
government. They alfo a6led on the theory that 
the kind and degree of expanfion or progrefs we 
now fee, was equally repugnant to the genius of 
our iniHtutions. 

It would appear, therefore, that fuch progrefs, 
as we have made, Ihould not be attributed to the 
practical working of our government to the ex- 
tent that is generally conceded. It I may be 
allowed to refer to my own perfonal experience 
of ten years of frontier life, I will fay that I 
found the federal government, where it exercifed 
dired: control, the greateft obftacle to progrefs. 
This ftatement may appear fomewhat remark- 
able or erroneous. Neverthelefs, nothing is more 
fufceptible of proof. The whole body of pio- 
neers and fettlers in our welfern frontier rei^-ions 
— except the government contractors — will llif- 
tain me in the alTertion. 

In all thofe unorganized regions, occupied and 
controlled by the government through its mili- 
tary ftations, Indian agencies, &c., the military 
and Indian agencies have one interell, and the 
bona fide fettler another. I had four years' expe- 
rience in Arizona and New Mexico, and during 

this 



( 25 ) 

this period the fettlers were obliged to wage a 
conftant warfare for bare exiftence, not only 
againft the wild Indians, but againft the despot- 
ifm and avarice of the United States Government 
as reprefented by its agents, military and civil. 
But it was of no ufe. I efcaped out of Arizona, 
a territory teeming with the precious and other 
metals, in the fpring of 1858, and came to Walh- 
ington, believing, in my verdancy, that I iliould 
be able to excite fome intereft there for that 
mofh important, but fuffering and negled:ed fron- 
tier. 

During the early part of my fojourn in the 
National Capital, I encountered a Member of 
Congrefs from one of the Ealfern States. He 
was puffing a cigar and toafting his feet before a 
good fire in one of the public rooms at Willard's 
Hotel. I approached this Member of Congrefs 
in my mofi: bland and winning manner, and after 
begging his pardon for interrupting what appear- 
ed to be a delightful reverie, I recounted to him 
in thrilling tones and impreffive manner, the 
trials, difficulties and dangers we were encoun- 
tering, in opening the new territory to civiliza- 
tion. The Member of Congrefs quietly heard 
what I had to fay, and then coolly turning to 
me, inquired : " What the devil did you go to 
fuch a God-forfaken country for ? " 

This incident tells the whole ilory of my 
Wafliington experience, in attempting to excite 
an interell on behalf of Arizona. I fpent seve- 
ral weeks in the capital, and mingled freely 



among 



( 26 ) 

among tne officials from the highell to the 
loweft, but not the iirft lign of common intelH- 
gence on the fubjed: of our frontier interefts 
generally did I encounter ; neither did I receive 
the llighteft encouragement, and Arizona was 
abandoned to its fate. The territory foon re- 
lapfed into barbarifm. In 1861, having been in 
polTeffion of the United States tind under the 
control of the military and Indian agencies five 
years, all the white inhabitants had been killed 
or driven off by the wild Apaches. But ter- 
ritorial officers, capable and efficient men I be- 
lieve, have recently gone out, and the emigration 
that is now flowing into Arizona is of a ftrength 
and character that will wrell it from the Federal 
agencies, control or fweep away the wild Indians, 
and bring this valuable frontier diil:ri(5t within 
the pale of civilization. 

The territory of New Mexico has been under 
the dired: control of the United States Govern- 
ment fifteen years, and it is in a worfe condition 
now than it was when we received it from 
Mexico. 

With here and there an exception, the com- 
manding officers, quartermafters, contrad:ors, and 
futlers, form clofe corporations, and wielding 
defpotic power, monopolize the bell: of every 
thing, and grind the bona fide fettler into the dull. 
Then come the wild Indians, who plunder the 
fettlers of what little is left to them. The Indian 
agents fupply the murdering, plundering lavages 
with rations, arms and ammunition, or the means 

to 



( V ) 

to obtain them, and thefe Indians, thus provided, 
fally out to diftant points, murder the fettlers, 
drive ofF their flock, and return to the neighbor- 
hood of thofe fame agencies, and there difpofe of 
their ill-gotten booty. Thus betv^een the mili- 
tary and Indian agencies, and the favages, the 
poor emigrant Hands but little chance for life or 
property. 

I was no amateur pioneer. I entered the 
work profeffionally, and conlidered that my lot 
was call in thofe frontier regions where, for ten 
years, I had run the gauntlet to fee, at laft, an 
entire community llaughtered around me, and 
learn that I expofed myfelf, and toiled to fill the 
pockets of a few miferable, foullefs fpeculators 
in human blood, fome of whom I regret to fay, 
reprefented a government that took no heed of 
its citizens, who were paving its way to empire 
with their bones. 

In thofe of our frontier diftrid:s where the 
wild Indians are lefs numerous or lefs favage than 
they are on the Rocky Mountain Hopes, or where 
the whites in great numbers rufli in, occupy the 
land, and wreft it from the Federal agencies, as 
in California, there is lefs of expofure, fuffering 
and bloodflied. But the evils to which I have 
alluded, characterize in a greater or lefs degree, 
all progrefs in our new territory. O, you who 
have never been beyond the pale of civilization ; 
you who have experienced nought but eafe and 
comfort within the limits of well fettled, refined 
fociety, how little you comprehend the frightful 

fufferinp-. 



( 28 •) 

fuffering, the horrid mafs of human flelh and 
bones through which our car of Empire cruilies 
and crafhes onward toward the fetting fun. 

Some may argue that fuch are the inevitable 
refults of efforts to reclaim wild and barbarous 
regions to civilization. To a certain extent this 
is true, but I contend moll: decidedly that by far 
the greateff amount of lite and property loil in 
the procefs of civilizing our frontier regions, is 
a wholly unnecelfary facrifice to the cruel fyftem 
and pernicious practices of the United States 
government agencies. 

In fuch circumftances as thefe, it admits of 
queftion whether the progrefs of the country, in 
its firft ffage at leaff, is not retarded rather than 
accelerated by the government. Such progrefs 
as we have made, muff, I believe, be attributed 
in the main, to that unequalled and happy com- 
bination of immenfe refources, the development 
of which is highly favored by the great advan- 
tages of geological conftruction, geographical 
pofition and the moff propitious variety of cli- 
mate. All thefe material acceffories added to 
the great idea of holding certain inalienable 
rights bafed on equality, with the repiitatioji of 
having the freeff and beft government on earth, 
have enticed a great amount of industry, talent 
and capital from Europe, and provoked a reff- 
lefs fpirit of enterprife all over the country. 

My remarks on the unfortunate relations that 
exiff between the general government and pio- 
neer intereffs are not agreeable to my taffe or 

feelings ; 



( 29 ; 

feelings ; hut they could not well he omitted. 
I deem them quite important and entirely perti- 
nent to my fuhjed:. I truft it will he underftood 
that I dilbufs the point without reference to the 
political views or prejudices of any party. The 
great trouble, in fad:, appears to me to be, that 
the entire fubjed is ignored by all the political 
parties of the country, either from a total igno- 
rance of the fads, or utter inability to grafp 
them. My fole defire is to give the people in- 
formation, that they may inftrud the politicians, 

I will now touch upon another important 
branch of my fubjed — one that relates diredly 
to our pioneer enterprife and general progrefs. 
I refer to Spanilh America, and our relations 
with that part of the continent. Here, again, I 
believe we have failed to comprehend our in- 
terefts and our deftiny. It is true that an idea of 
** manifelf deftiny " having more or lefs to do 
with the future of Spanifh America, has obtained 
a lodgment in the American mind. Of late 
years we have heard much about the " manifeft 
deftiny" of the American nation; but fo far as 
I can perceive, this idea is exceedingly vague, 
having no intelligent or logical bafis, nor any 
well defined policy or fyftem by which it is to 
be wrought out. 

In our relations with Spanilh America, we 
have pradically labored againft the happy fulfill- 
inent of the manifeft deftiny idea. 

I will give a brief fummary of fads bearing 
diredly on this point : — 

Our 
x> 



( 3° ) 

Our relations with the ifland of Cuba, proba- 
bly from its geographical polition, and other 
favorable circumftances, are more extenfive and 
profitable than with any other locality in Spanifh 
America. 

From 1820 to 1850, a period of thirty years, 
our commercial exchanges with Cuba ranged 
from ten to fifteen millions only per annum. 

In i860, our commercial exchange with that 
ifland amounted to $46,428,434, or $33 25 per 
capita^ giving 1,396,530 as the population. 

What is the caufe of this fudden and immenfe 
trade between the United States and Cuba ? 
I reply, th.Qjlea?fiJhip ! In 1 850, lines of Ameri- 
can fteamers commenced plying between New 
York, Charlefton, New Orleans and Havana, 
and in i860 our commercial exchanges with 
the laft named port had augmented to over 
$46,000,000, which is equal to one-half the 
entire foreign trade of the ifland, and double the 
total amount of our trade with all the other 
Wefl: India iflands. 

Cuba lay in our ocean highway to New Or- 
leans and Afpinwall. Communication by fleam 
became a neceflity, and the ifland has been prac- 
tically, fo far as its commercial interefts and 
relations were concerned, within the American 
Union, fince 1850 and up to the commencement 
of our civil diflurbances in i860. This, I be- 
lieve, was Amply a collateral result of private 
enterprife, growing out of increafed trade with 
New Orleans, and the commencement of inter- 
courfe with California. In 



( 3> ) 

In the relations that grew up between the 
United States and Cuba during the decade men- 
tioned, I fee the idea of manifeft deftiny logic- 
ally and happily developed. 

With Cuba, everything favorable or fortunate 
in our Spanifh American relations ends. Take 
Mexico for inftance. When Mexico became an 
independent ftate in 1821, our trade with her 
commenced, and in the courfe of ten years it 
had reached $15,000,000 per annum. But lince 
1830 the trade has been irregular, and the ten- 
dency downward, fo that in i860, the commer- 
cial exchanges between Mexico and the United 
States, that is, our imports from and exports to 
that country, had fallen to $5,905,103, and this, 
notwithftanding Mexico joins our fouthern bor- 
der, and the trade of the whole Mexican Pacific 
coaft had been open to California for ten years. 

Taking the inhabitants of Mexico at 7,000,000, 
the trade of that country per capita with the 
United States in i860, was 84 cents. If Mexico 
had the fame annual per capita trade with the 
United States that Cuba has, it would amount to 
$228,750,000 per annum. 

There are in that Mexican domain, feveral 
Californias for us, fimply through the inftrumen- 
tality of treaties of amity and commerce, a means 
of progrefs our rulers appear to know very little 
about. The perverfity with which our people 
and government have adted with regard to our 
interefts in Mexico, cannot be explained by any 
of the known laws by which human affairs are 

fuppofed 



( 32 ) 

fuppored to be influenced or regulated. It Teems 
as though we had knowingly and deliberately 
aided in bringing about the dire misfortune of 
foreign intervention in Mexico, the real and 
greater purpofe of which is ultimately interven- 
tion in the United States. 

My remarks refpefting our relations with 
Mexico, are, in the main, applicable to all Span- 
ifli America. 

In i860, the commercial exchanges of Span- 
ifh America v/ith all the world were, in round 
numbers, $525,000,000, of which $115,000,000 
only were with the United States. Of this lat- 
ter amount $65,000,000 were with Cuba and 
the other Weft Indian iflands, leaving to the 
United States but $50,000,000, or one-tenth of 
the Spanifh American trade on the main land — 
the total of which was $460,000,000, with all 
countries. And yet we have all thofe advantages 
over other countries that lliould give us the com- 
mand of the greater portion of that trade. 

The total population of the continental part 
of Spaniili America is 33,000,000, and our trade 
with that population amounts to but $50,000,000 
per annum, or $1.52 ^fr capita. What an un- 
fortunate exhibit. If our trade with all Spanilh 
America averaged the fame per capita as it does 
with Cuba, it would amount to $1,163,750,000 
per annum ! Thefe are ftupendous numerals. 
It is within the bounds of reafon to fay that by an 
intelligent culture of commercial intercourfe 
with Spanifh America, our trade with that por- 
tion 



( 33 ) 

tion of the continent and its illands would, within 
a few years, reach $500,000,000 per annum. 
What a magnificent field for the pioneer enter- 
prife of this country ! 

But where does the greater part of the Spani{h 
American trade go ? To Europe — principally 
to England. The Englifh mail fteamers com- 
pletely encircle Spani(h America, touching at 
upwards of feventy different ports on the conti- 
nent and illands. 

Having given the fmall commercial refults of 
our intercourfe with Spanifli America, I will 
bring forward feveral other points as evidence of 
how we have almoft entirely ignored the exift- 
ence of that part of our continent as any thing 
worthy of commercial or focial culture. 

One half this continent is occupied by Spanifli 
America, and one half the people inhabiting this 
continent fpeak the Spanifh language. And yet 
what child, what ftatefman in this country is 
reared in view of thefe great fadis ? Is the fludy of 
the grand old Spanifh language or the hiftory of 
Spanifh America common among us ? Does a 
knowledge of the races, language, laws, poli- 
tics, religion and cuftoms that prevail in Spanifh 
America conftitute any part of the education of 
our public men — thofe whom we honor with 
the higheft pofitions and dignify with the appel- 
lation of ftatefmen ? Let the fad:s anfwer. If 
you place your child in the beft fchools or acade- 
mies of the country with the defire to give him 
a fuperior education, or lay the foundation for 

it. 



( 34 ) 
it, not one in fifty affords the advantage of in- 
ftruction in the Spanifh language ; and if by- 
chance you are able to arrange for a teacher in 
this language, it is done with fo much difficulty 
and extra expenfe as to be available only to the 
wealthy. As to any correct hiftory of Spanifh 
America for reading or fludy, it is not to be 
found in the literature of our country, nor in 
any other country, I believe, if truth and fair- 
nefs are made the ftandard. 

Go to Wafliington among the high officials, 
the leading men, the politicians of the day, and 
how many do you find who are able to form an 
intelligent opinion of any event that occurs in 
Spanifh America ? I have heard that it has been 
remarked by the foreign diplomatic corps in 
Wafhington, that not one of the prefent Admin- 
iff ration can converfe intelligently with the ref- 
pedive Spanifli American Minifiers accredited 
to this government, relative to the countries they 
reprefent, even in the Englifli language, faying 
nothing of the Spanifh. This fhould be a deep 
national mortification. 

Furthermore, it is a deplorable fad: that the 
government has rarely fent a reprefentative to 
the Spanifli American countries who had any 
knowledge of the people or their language. At 
the prefent time, if I am corred:ly informed, we 
have not a fingle ambaffador in Spanifh America, 
and fcarcely a conlul who knows any thing of 
the Spanifh language, or who by education or 
experience is calculated to promote our inter- 
efts 



'( 35 ) 
efts in that portion of the continent, no matter 
how zealous and faithful he may be in his efforts 
to perform his duty. 

Thefe are all very grave facts, and they clearly 
fet forth in my mind — and I hope they do to 
that of others — how little our people and gov- 
ernment comprehend their great intereft in the 
direction of the India fouth of us. They afford 
indubitable evidence of how entirely negled:ful 
we have been of found and healthy progrefs in 
a natural and available dired:ion. And what is 
the confequence ? A very ferious lofs to our na- 
tional interefts, and calamitous complications in 
our foreign and domeftic policy. 

Spanifh America is an enigma to the whole 
world. To my mind the folution of this enig- 
ma is exceedingly fimple. We have only to 
appreciate the great fad: which ftands fo boldly 
out in modern hiftory, that from its difcovery to 
the prefent hour, this continent has been -looked 
upon by Europe as a pure commercial fpecula- 
tion in the development of which, the common 
principles of humanity and chriftianity were not 
to have, and confequently have not had lot or 
part. 

What may be termed commercial flavery never 
was known until the commercial nations of Eu- 
rope faftened it upon this continent as a pure 
fpeculation, bereft of all jusftice and humanity. 
The foil of thofe nations at home muft be free, 
but the foil of their poffeffions in the New World 
must be Have. What a record of fhame the com- 
mercial 



( 36 ) 

mercial nations of Europe exhibit on this point ! 
While they were declaring that the moment a 
Have fet foot on the foil of the refpe(5tive mother 
countries he became free, they were abfolutely 
encouraging and fuftaining the African flave trade 
with their armies and navies, and enforcing by 
arms and legillation, the inftitution of llavery 
over this continent and its illands, from pole to 
pole and from ocean to ocean. 

In 1772, Lord Mansfield ruled in the famous 
cafe of the Have Somerfet, that no law of Eng- 
land recognized chattel llavery on Englifli foil, 
and that a negro flave from any one of the Brit- 
ifh Colonies became free from the moment he 
arrived at a Britifh port. At this very time the 
American Colonies were urgently proteffing to 
the mother country againfl the importation of 
negro flaves within their limits. In ^'J']^, three 
years after the decifion of Lord Mansfield, and 
juft before our war of revolution broke out, the 
Britifh government abruptly and fternly gave a 
quietus to thefe protefts of the colonies in the 
following words : " We cannot allow the colonies to 
check or dif courage in any degree a traffic fo benefi- 
cial to the nation.'' 

This remarkable exhibition of the unfeeling 
fpirit of gain on the part of the Englifh govern- 
ment tells the whole ftory. It lays bare the ani- 
mus by which commercial Europe held the New 
World in its grafp. And it is the lame now 
as it was then. There has been no change. 

Our revolutionary war and the Spaniili Ame- 
rican 



( 37 ) 

rican war of independence were the natural up- 
heavings of people to relieve themfelves from an 
intolerable fyftem of oppreffion, inflicted upon 
them by the parent nations of Europe. The 
United States met with a great and conilantly 
increaling degree of succefs, until all Europe 
began to bow to the progrefs and power of 
the great republic as to the decree of fate, and 
to hold the American nation in fome fort of 
humane and Chrifliian respedt. Then our civil 
war cotmnenced. 

The Spanifh American countries, on the other 
hand, fucceeded in throwing off the Spanifh yoke 
only to relapfe fo completely into the clutches 
of commercial Europe, as to render their condi- 
tion fince they became republics, but little if any 
better than it was when they were enllaved to 
Spain. 

If you would arrive at a corred: underftanding 
of the Spanilh American republics, you will find 
European luft and avarice the main caufe of the 
chronic evils by which they are afflicted. I con- 
tend that public opinion refpecting thefe repub- 
lics is wrong. The Spanilh American people, 
if I underftand them aright, have capacities and 
afpirations for a far higher order of exiftence 
than they now enjoy, and if they could but dif- 
enthrall themfelves from the cruel bonds, in which 
they are fo tightly held by commercial Europe, 
they would rife rapidly in the fcale of nations. 

I could not refrain from advancing my view 
of this matter, it has fo fixed a lodgment in my 

mind 



( 38 ) 

mind, and bears fo diredtly on our interefts and 
progrefs, efpecially in the Spanifli American por- 
tion of the continent. 

Furthermore, I cannot leave the point without, 
referring you to the promptitude with which the 
leading maritime nations of Europe adopted the 
courfe they thought would regain to them the 
inhuman grafp in which they originally held 
this entire continent, fo foon as it becan>e evident 
that the only Power thereon they had ever re- 
fpedted, was involved in ferious civil ftrife. I 
confider it a piece of fublime limplicity on the 
part of the politicians both North and South to- 
have believed thofe nations ever would, or ever 
will, purfue any other courfe. 

In my remarks, I have endeavored to give 
fome idea of our true greatnefs and of our real 
deficiencies; and in the attempt, I have doubt- 
lefs both flattered and mortified the national van- 
ity. While I maintain that we have caufe for 
pride, I believe we have caufe for ihame. And 
while agreeing that we muft ftand up before the 
world in all the confcious pride and dignity of a 
nation that claims to be in the van of freedom 
and progrefs — yes, and, if need be, defy the world 
in arms in maintaining that proud pofition, — I 
contend that we fliould put on the becoming 
garb of modefty which fignifies we have yet 
much to learn. 

Every age is given to the idea that it cannot 
be excelled. Every race holds itfelf as the fupe- 
rior. Every people confiders its religion the 

only 



( 39 ) 

only true religion on earth; and every fociety, 
from that which furrounds the greateft poten- 
tate, to that which grovels in the hut of the 
Hottentot, believes the world revolves around it. 
/ When in Arizona in 1855, as the Superin- 
tendent of a San Francifco copper mining com- 
pany, I opened and worked the Mina del Ajo, 
located in the defert, lurrounded by ftupendous 
mountains, and forty miles from living water. 
We were Tupplied with that article from natural 
and artificial tanks in the rocks, the rain filling 
them once a year, 

I had as laborers about one hundred Mexican 
peons, moft of them pure Indians, the relics of 
Jefuit Chriflianization, very good laborers, and 
belonging to the feveral Sonora tribes. The 
labor of a certain week had produced a large 
amount of very rich ore, and on the Sunday 
morning following, I happened to pafs near a 
number of the peons refting from their work, 
I overheard their converfation which turned on 
the richnefs of a favorite lead they had named 
San Eduardo, in honor of the Superintendent, 
and yet, a pure Papago Indian, known as Boca 
Prieta, or Black Mouth, feelingly exclaimed : 
*^ Ahy que laj}i??ia efte rica mina no pertinezca a 
nofotros los Chrijiianos !'' "What a pity this 
rich mine does not belong to us Chriftians ! " 
There, in that far off, and as my friend the Mem- 
ber of Congrefs called it, " God-forfaken coun- 
try," this Indian who deigned to wear nothing 
more than a wifp of cotton cloth around his 

waift, 



( 40 ) 

waifl, who did not know the letter A, and could 
not count beyond the number lo, beheved him- 
felf and his furroundings of the moft advanced 
and Chriftian order. 

We as a people hold in the upper ftrata of our 
mind, that we are the moft advanced nation in 
the world — that the degree of perfection we 
have reached in our fyftem of religion and gov- 
ernment and in fcience, can fcarcely be excelled. 

I believe the greateft difcoveries in religion, 
government and fcience are yet tJifuturo. The 
prefence of man is but juft beginning to be felt 
in the moral and material world, and the brain 
fairly aches even in its faint efforts to contem- 
plate what the fubjugation of the earth demands 
from the future. 

I have remarked in a general manner on thofe 
great interefts which provoke the fpirit of Ame- 
rican pioneer enterprife, and I have referred to 
the degree of progrefs made in the development 
of thofe interefts. I have exprelfed my belief 
that the people and the government of the 
United States had, in other days, no adequate 
conception of the great future that was before 
them. And fuch remarks as I have made — the 
refult of careful obfervation and ftudy — are made 
in the full conviction that the nation at large 
has, at the prefent time, no better comprehen- 
lion of its great interefts, no more intelligent ap- 
preciation of the grandeur of its deftiny — fecured 
only by the happy working of the great idea of 
holding certain inalienable rights bafed on equal- 

ity 



( 4" ) 

ity — than it had in the early days of the Repub- 
lic when there was no experience of the pafl to 
throw light upon the future. 

I will venture to intimate that the American 
nation has been careleilly drifting on, allowing 
politicians to legillate too much and in the wrong 
dired:ion. 

As a nation infpired by the great idea of lib- 
erty and equality, we have made great progrefs; 
but it is well to inquire whether we have not, at 
the fame time, fcattered in our path the feeds of 
evil that grow with our growth and ftrengthen 
with our ftrength. In evidence of this, I point 
to the prefent condition of the country. Defola- 
tion and want reign in one fedtion, luxury and 
extravagance in the other. Corruption ftalks 
abroad at noon-day, the war-liend holds his car- 
nival throughout the land, and our national exif- 
tence is threatened. 

I have exprelfed my firm faith in the ultimate 
welfare of the country. But this refult may only 
come through years of diforder and bloodfhed. 
It the rebellion lliould be put down and the war 
Ihould ceafe at once, the new ilfues that have 
fprung up may be more difficult to overcome 
than the rebellion itfelf. 

Chateaubriand fays, *'God rifes behind men." 
The feen vaniflies and the unfeen appears. 
Revolutions end in what thofe, who inaugurate 
them, leaft exped:. The men who put in motion 
the mighty revolution that is now raging around 
us, the excufe and the purpofe, will probably all 

pafs 



( 42 ) 

oafs away and be forgotten, ere the final refults 
of the movement are reached. 

I confider it, therefore, the facred duty of 
every true-hearted American to do that which 
lies within him to ameliorate the unhappy con- 
dition of his country, that it may come forth 
from the fiery furnace feven times purified, a 
burning and fhining light to all the world. 

Actuated by fuch feelings, in the main, I be- 
lieve, a number of gentlemen from various parts 
of the country — diftinguilhed travelers and pio- 
neers, progreffive men — have ftarted the projed; 
of organizing an allociation in this city under 
the title of the Travelers' Club. 

This aflbciation is to have the ufual focial 
attractions, and be conducted on the fame high 
principles as our beft clubs. But the addition of 
a department where the higheft order of intelli- 
gence, and the moft valuable information will 
be aggregated and put in form for public ufe, 
will give to the propofed Travelers' Club a 
far higher miffion than is ufually accorded to 
the ordinary focial and literary clubs of the 
day. 

It is eftimated that 10,000 pioneers, explorers 
and travelers — active, progreffive men — from 
our frontier regions, Spaniili America, and other 
foreign countries vifit this city annually, and 
who could be introduced to the rooms ot the 
Travelers' Club with mutual advantage. The 
value of the information thefe vifitors pofi'efs in 
the aggregate, is incalculable ; and this informa- 
tion. 



( 43 ) 

tion, abfolutely indifpenfable for the fafe guid- 
ance of the nation, I contend, does not conftitute, 
in any efFedlual degree, an element of knowledge 
among the people. The politicians of the day 
pofitively refufe to receive it, regarding it as 
fomething with which they have nothing to do. 
It is not to be found in books, the prefs cannot 
obtain it, confequently that which is of fo much 
vital importance to the nation is loft. 

Any intelligent mind will readily comprehend 
what a powerful influence for good the gather- 
ing together of this clafs of progreiTive men in 
fecial and intellediual intercourfe in this city, 
muft have. Properly managed it will be- 
come a power in the land. Such would be the 
concentration of progreffive intelled: and infor- 
mation as to enfure the happieft influence on 
the private and public affairs of the nation. 
There is an aching void — if I may be allowed 
the expreffion — for juft fuch an inftitution. All 
political parties, all religious creeds will be in- 
vited to participate ; but all partizanfhip in the 
one and fe6tarianifm in the other, muft yield to 
the ftrid: cofmopolitan and confervative charadier 
of the aflbciation. 

For many years aflbciations, partaking fome- 
what of the character of the one propofed, have 
been eftabliftied in the larger capitals of Europe, 
and there they take the lead among the focial and 
literary clubs. There may be a greater number 
of what are called traveled literary gentlemen, 
who yearly vifit London and Paris, than can 

be 



( 44 ) 

be got together in this city ; but for the concen- 
tration of thofe reftlefs, indomitable, intellectual, 
progreflive men who are moving the world on- 
ward, and of that peculiar kind of quick, un- 
written information that guides the progrefs of 
humanity, I do not believe any city on the globe 
can excel the city of New York, the great heart 
of our own great empire and the commercial 
and financial center of the New World. 

The promife of fuccefs in the permanent or- 
ganization of the Travelers' Club on a balis 
worthy of the city of New York, is very flat- 
tering. It is furprifing what a powerful clafs of 
men and interefts the idea has aroufed. The in- 
dications are that the memberfliip, not only of 
refidents in this city, but of ftrangers from vari- 
ous localities in our own country and abroad, ef- 
pecially Spanifli America, will be very large. 
There are alfo many alfurances of valuable hif- 
torical contributions relating to the rife and pro- 
grefs of civilization in the New World; of 
books, maps, &c., and defirable fpecimens for 
the cabinet. Like all other projeds of this na- 
ture, however, much perfeverance and exertion 
will be required before complete succefs is at- 
tained. 

The founders of the projedl are, I believe, 
adiuated by motives did:ated by patriotifm, libe- 
rality and intelledual tafte. No one of them 
will look for or receive any emolument. The 
fole defire appears to be to eftablifli an inftitu- 
tion fo urgently demanded by the interefts ot 

the 



( 45 ) 

the country — an inftitution that will foften the 
prejudices of race, allay fedlional feeling, culti- 
vate the fecial qualities, and raife the ftandard of 
intelligence among the people. Such objects 
are truly noble. 

The man of bufinefs and fcience, the ftatef- 
man and philofopher, the divine and philanthro- 
pift, can come to our ftores of knowledge, we 
truft, and learn what magnificent interefls we 
polfefs, and what a glorious country we have to 
fave. 



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